Wife of Norwegian billionaire kidnapped – ransom to be paid in monero

Totte Löfström

Anne-Elisabeth Falkevik Hagen, the wife of the Norwegian billionaire Tom Hagen, is missing in what is suspected to be a kidnapping. Now, someone claiming to be the kidnapper demands a ransom to be paid in the cryptocurrency monero.

Anne-Elisabeth Falkevik Hagen, the wife of the Norwegian billionaire Tom Hagen, has been missing since late October last year. The Norwegian police have been investigating it as a kidnapping, and now it seems like their fears have come true.

According to the Norwegian newspapers Romerikes Blad and VG, someone claiming to be the kidnapper has demanded a ransom of nine million euros (approximately $10.3 million) to release Anne-Elisabeth Falkevik.

Ransom to be paid in monero

The kidnappers allegedly have demanded that the ransom is paid in the anonymous cryptocurrency monero, since its transaction history is completely hidden. This is in contrast to many other cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

Tom Hagen is ranked as the 172nd richest person in Norway, according to a list published by the Norwegian financial newspaper Kapital. In 2018, the estimated fortune of Hagen was just over 1,7 billion Norwegian kroner (approximately $200 million), earned mainly from electricity speculation.